Start with one free call: Eldercare Locator or 211
The Eldercare Locator is a public service of the Administration for Community Living, a federal agency. It helps older adults find local services, including transportation. You can call or text 1-800-677-1116, chat online, or send an email to trained staff.
211 is a phone line that connects you to local help. You can call 211 from a cell phone or landline to speak to a local specialist. 211 can help you find transportation to get to a doctor’s appointment. Every call is confidential.
Both services connect you to programs near you. Ask what ride help is available where you live.
Rides for older adults through your Area Agency on Aging
An Area Agency on Aging is a public or nonprofit agency that serves older people in a city, county or group of counties. Local names vary. You can find yours through the Eldercare Locator.
Federal Older Americans Act grants help pay for services that keep older adults living at home. These services include transportation. Each agency chooses the services that best meet local needs, so ride help may differ from place to place.
Many local programs use volunteers. Volunteers often provide transportation to medical appointments.
ADA paratransit if a disability keeps you off the bus
Public agencies that run regular bus or train routes must also offer paratransit, with some exceptions such as commuter lines. Paratransit is a ride service for people whose disability keeps them from using the regular bus or train. It follows federal rules under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
You have to apply and be found eligible. A temporary disability can count. If the agency has not decided within 21 days after you turn in a complete application, it must treat you as eligible and give you rides until it decides. If you are turned down, you can appeal.
Some people may also get half-fare or reduced fares on regular buses. Transit agencies that get certain federal funding must offer reduced fares to seniors and people with disabilities during off-peak hours.
- Cost: the fare can be no more than twice the full fare for a similar trip at a similar time of day on the regular bus.
- Area: service must cover places within three-fourths of a mile on each side of each bus route.
- Trips: rides go from where you start to where you are going (origin to destination).
- Booking: the agency must give you a ride on a day you ask for if you request it the day before.
- Helpers: a personal care attendant rides free.
Free rides to cancer treatment
The American Cancer Society’s Road to Recovery program gives free rides to cancer-related medical appointments. Trained volunteer drivers pick you up, take you to your appointment and bring you home.
The trip must be for a cancer-related appointment. Some patients must bring a caregiver, for example a patient who cannot walk without help or is under 18. What is offered and the rules can differ by area.
It can take several business days to set up a ride. Call 1-800-227-2345 well before your appointment.
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Rides to dialysis: talk to the facility social worker
Original Medicare covers ambulance rides to dialysis only when other ways of traveling could endanger your health. Medicare’s dialysis booklet says that if you need help with non-ambulance rides, you should talk to the social worker at your dialysis facility to find out your options.
Federal rules require dialysis centers to have a social worker with a master’s degree on staff. The American Kidney Fund says this social worker can tell you about community resources, such as arranging rides to and from dialysis.
Medicaid waiver rides are for waiver participants only
Some states run Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) waivers. These programs give long-term care services at home or in the community to people who would otherwise qualify for care in an institution. You must be enrolled in the waiver, and states can limit how many people they serve.
If you are in a waiver, rides to Medicaid medical care go through your state’s regular Medicaid transportation program. Some states also cover non-medical transportation. This is a separate service that helps waiver participants reach community services and activities when other options are not available. It is up to each state.
If you have Medicaid, see your state’s covered-rides page on this site. If you are in a waiver, ask your case manager what rides it includes.